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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24867547">Vampire Appeal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musicandbooks_090/pseuds/Musicandbooks_090'>Musicandbooks_090</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Vampire Diaries - L. J. Smith, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Nonfiction, Other, Research, Research Paper, Vampires</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:20:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24867547</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musicandbooks_090/pseuds/Musicandbooks_090</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a copy of a research paper I did for a lit class during college. I only uploaded it for an easy link to share with people.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vampire Appeal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nia </p><p>Collection of 21st Century Young Adult Vampire Literature<br/>
Table of Contents<br/>
Introduction………………………………………………………………….…… 2<br/>
Craine, Rachel: Glass Houses (The Morganville Vampires Series)........................ 12<br/>
Cast, Kristin: Marked (House of Night Series)........................................................ 252<br/>
Mead, Richelle: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy Series)............................... 559<br/>
Meyer, Stephenie: Twilight (The Twilight Saga)...................................................... 892<br/>
Schreiber, Ellen: Vampire Kisses (The Vampire Kisses Series)................................ 1393<br/>
Smith, L.J.: The Awakening (The Vampire Diaries Series)...................................... 1646</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>INTRODUCTION<br/>
The vampire has been a creature in literature, folklore, legends, and culture for centuries. Bram Stoker's Dracula brought vampires into popular literature in 1897. From then, vampires became a staple troupe in gothic literature. As the world and its cultures evolved, so did the literary vampire. Now, the supernatural has become prominent in young adult literature. Young adult literature (YAL) has been a definite genre since the mid to late twentieth century. The novels that compose the genre of YAL tend to appeal to people between the ages of 12-20 years old, and the adolescent search for identity. This introduction will include a deeper discussion of the appeal of YAL, and specifically, the appeal of urban fantasy and vampires. Urban fantasy is important to this collection of novels because modern-day vampires have evolved into urban fantasy from the original gothic, horror genre that Dracula is a part of. In gothic literature, the vampire was a purely evil, immoral, sometimes grotesque creature whose only desire was to consume human blood and bring death and destruction. The genre of gothic literature is one of darkness, horror, dungeons, castles, and fear. The gothic paved the way for urban fantasy. Urban fantasy, and subgenre of sci-fi fantasy, is a genre that takes the supernatural and places it into modern settings. It takes a look into the combination of modern-day advances and problems while immersing the supernatural into the plot. The genre takes the legends and folklore that have been told and passed down through the centuries and retells them with a twenty-first-century twist. The creature of the vampire has evolved along with the genre. The vampire that is depicted in this collection of novels is not the monstrous creatures that readers are familiar with from the horror and gothic books. The vampire of these novels is a humane creature. Edward Cullen from Twilight, Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries, and Zoey Redbird from Marked are all vampires in this collection of YAL, and this introduction will explore the basis around the specifics of vampires in YAL and the importance these novel have in their readers’ lives and identities.<br/>
Jeffery F. Kaplan’s journal article “Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century: Moving Beyond Traditional Constraints and Conventions” is about how YAL takes inspiration from the outside world and gives young readers a chance to question identity and humanity through creative lenses. In an ever-changing world, young people struggle to connect because their minds are ever-changing too. Young adults find a connection in “The trope that all young adult literature has in common is the search for identity” (Kaplan 12).  The juvenile minds of readers want to find themselves, so when a character in a book reflects what the reader wants to see in themselves, it helps them in finding a personal identity: “most adolescent readers view characters in young adult novels as living and wrestling with real problems close to their own life experiences as teenagers. At the center of all these themes are questions of character and identity and values” (Kaplan 14). As children grow up, the world tries to shape them into certain adults: their parents want their child to have certain views, technology exposes them to new ideas; there is always someone or something trying to get the young adult to agree with their ideas. So YAL “provides a forum upon which teenagers can build cosmopolitan worldviews and identities” (Kaplan 17). Identity and individualism are considered important aspects of one’s character or personality in modern societies and have become attractive characteristics of YAL that draw in readers.<br/>
Vivan Howard wrote about her finds on the appeal of YAL in her journal article, “The Importance of Pleasure Reading in the Lives of Young Teens: Self-Identification, Self-Construction, and Self-Awareness”. Reality is not always the happiest place to live in, and when one does not know where one’s place is in the world, a craving to escape reality can grow strong. Howard wanted to know the reason why young adults, between the ages of 12-15 years old, read for pleasure. She found four main reasons: “ the young teens who participated in this study read for pleasure for many of the same personal reasons that adults read for pleasure: to be entertained, to pass the time, to relax, to exercise their imaginations, and so forth” (Howard 49).  She also found that teens who read for pleasure tended to do better academically, understood the world, “social conscience, social empathy”, found “empowerment”, and “guidance and caution” (Howard 49-51). Howard came to the same conclusion as Kaplan, what young reader read in their youths help them form self-identity:<br/>
The present study strongly supports the concept that teens, like adults, unconsciously use pleasure reading as a means of everyday life information seeking and the reasons for personal salience identified in the foregoing discussion have a strong developmental theme: in their pleasure reading, teens gain significant insights into self-identification, self-construction, and self-awareness, all of which aid them in the transition from childhood to adulthood (Howard 53).<br/>
Young adults live in a crazy world. There is constantly an outside pressure of fit-in or conform, so when a novel offers a chance for them to find who they are on the inside and center themselves, they grasp at it.<br/>
The specific appeal of urban fantasy is written about in “Young Adult Appeal and Thematic Similarity in Urban Fantasy” by Rosalind Krul. She discusses the ways “Urban fantasy, through the modification of traditional and historic folklore into contemporary literature, can appeal to a current YA audience” (Krul 142). The books in the urban fantasy genre draw on the universal theme of YAL- identity, by taking classic legends, stories, and folklore and placing them in a mythic world that aid readers in seeing the real world as vast and new (Krul 142). Krul notes, like Kaplan and Howard, the connection readers have with the quest for identity in the books. The unique appeal that urban fantasy has is that it allows the fantastical to be “[the] discovery of otherworldly powers which can represent to teenagers new abilities in their own lives” (Krul 150).  A factor of urban fantasy is the placement of the supernatural and mythical into the real world. The real world is already a scary place to young, developing mind, so<br/>
This metaphorical expansion resonates with young readers who are just seeing their own world expand at an often frightening rate. There are many decisions teenagers must make at this point in their lives, and many discoveries of information they were unaware of before. Some of this information is encouraging, and some of it is dark and disturbing; both elements exist in the magical worlds of mythic fiction as the selected novels characters’ experiences express (Krul 155).<br/>
Identity. This is the umbrella that encompasses the theme and appeal of YAL. Then the mystical and fantastical world provides a unique perspective to grasp onto. Urban fantasy novels include characters/ creatures like vampires, werewolves, Nephilim, and fae.<br/>
Vampires have become one of the most popular supernatural creatures in urban fantasy novels. Berglind Gudmundsdottir explores the certain characteristics of “new” and “old” vampires in her BA Thesis essay “The Vampire's Evolution in Literature”. The “old” vampire is the nineteenth-century grotesque vampire that was based on legends and folklore. The “new” vampire is the humane creature who holds on to its morality.  Gudmundsdottir traces the history of the literary vampire to legends from nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. The literary vampire has “evolved from the monstrous creature the legends tell of and people were frightened by, to a being that may be considered civil and does not necessarily frighten people anymore but rather brings them wonderment” (Gudmundsdottir 4). Another essay that pertains to the progression of vampires through literature is “The Horror of Dracula: Twilight and the 21st- Century Vampire” by Megen J. de Bruin-Mole. She describes the “old” vampire as “at the forefront of the Gothic exploration of the monstrous, inhuman Other – an undead creature of the night that derives sustenance at the expense of the living” (Mole 4). Dracula is the ideal gothic vampire, and the most culturally popular. He is unlike the “new” vampire which “ is no longer an object of fear, but of sympathy or even humour” (Mole 5). Mole goes on to write about how some critics believe that the “new” literary vampire is not gothic at all because they do not encompass that horror and darkness of the original gothic mood. But in contemporary literature, the vampire still possesses that “Other” archetype of its gothic predecessor. The vampire character is typically one who is solitary, has physical attributes that cause them to stand out, drink blood,  and have supernatural abilities. Both essays conclude with the thought that the twenty-first-century vampire has moved from the gothic horror into urban fantasy, but still contains elements that pay patronage to its origins.<br/>
The specific characteristics of vampire YAL are put into numbers by Sarah Mayfield et. al. in the journal article “Romancing the Bite: Statistical Analysis of Young Adult Vampire Novels''. Like many popular novels, romance appeared in 89.3% of 66 novels in the study. The novels’ publication dates ranged from 1990-2010. 71.2% of the novels had attractive vampires, 68.3% had male vampire protagonists who had human female love interest or females who desired vampirism (Mayfield 2-5). With those characteristics, there are still certain elements that appeal to readers. “Vampire Literature: Something Young Adults Can Really Sink Their Teeth Into” by Joseph De Marco deals with the allure the undead have in young readers. The appeal of the vampire goes deeper than the umbrella “identity-appeal” of all YAL, it appeals to “the adolescent's own seemingly cursed vitality and need for the freedom to change (De Marco 27). Teenagers are attracted to sexual attraction, immortality (the urge to stay youthful; avoid adulthood), power (teenagers feel powerless against an ever-changing world), blood lust/ sexual lust, beauty, marginality, horror, and revenge of the vampire (De Marco 27-28). Readers find pleasure and indulgence in the forbidden nature of the vampire novels, and they also connect personally with the characters within the pages. Readers find the person they want to be within the vampire; they place themselves into the romance and fight for humanity in the novel. An immortal, attractive vampire who is sure of themselves gives the reader a sense of stability. The majority male vampire protagonist who falls in love with a human girl is part of the sexual and romantic appeal of the books. The identity young readers long for is one where they can keep their youth, but also feel powerful when the world around them feels immense and overwhelming— this is the identity they connect to when reading the vampire novels.<br/>
This particular collection of novels are written for teenagers, about teenagers, and contain vampires.  Twilight is one of the most notable and popular young adult vampire novels. Though some of the critics mentioned in Mole’s essay would call it an insult to the gothic and vampire culture, there are redeeming qualities that make it an important addition to this anthology. A few of Twilight’s qualities is that it is centered around a coven of vampires who 1) drink blood, 2) possess supernatural abilities (immortality and special powers per character), and 3) are outsiders or the Other in the town they live in. These are all troupes that align with the original gothic mood. The gothic mood is still present among the novel in this collection, even though the vampires are not evil creatures. A few of the novels: Marked, The Vampire Diaries, Vampire Academy, and Twilight include characters that are villainous and purposely hurt humans, and these are the characters that pay homage to “old” Dracula-like vampires. With the underlying gothic mood, these novels are also urban fantasy YAL. Two out of six (Vampire Academy and Marked) of the novels are placed in a modern setting where vampires are known to the human world and have their own separate boarding school/ college. The remaining books have vampires who live among humans and hiding their identities. All are set in the twentieth or twenty-first century. These “new” vampires all share certain attributes: they live among humans (hidden or known), they possess supernatural powers that differ from the original folklore, they do not try to cause chaos and kill (unless they are the villain of the book), and they experience human emotions.<br/>
Why do adolescents crave an identity to connect to? What identity does twenty-first-century vampire literature have to offer for connection? Kaplan wrote about how teenagers feel like the world is ever-shifting beneath their feet, and when a book character finds stability, even in a world full of vampires, they find a steady ground to place their faith in. As De Marco noted, there are plenty of attributes of a vampire that draw readers in, like a creature who is self-assured and confident which can aid in the reader ridding themselves of their own insecurities.  In a world where people are constantly questioning the truths of the religion, sciences, and even their own souls, a book that can offer or provide an example of what self-discovery can be life-changing for a young mind. Zoey Redbird from Marked was a character who became a fledgling vampire and had to completely rediscover what her life is supposed to mean and what her future entails. This is how the transformative years of delinquency can feel. Teenagers spend thirteen years of their life in school where there is always structure, classes always on the same schedule. Then college comes along- the place where kids are expected to become the adults that have their whole life planned with a piece of paper they paid thousands of dollars for. Those later years of high school and then college can make a young adult feel like their entire life is changing and out of their control, even if it is supposed to be the time when they discover the answers to their futures. In a world where it is so easy to feel lost, a novel that places them in a world where a charter is going through the same life-altering decision and identity crisis can become extremely important.<br/>
Vampires are a large part of pop culture. They appear in literature, tv-shows, movies, comic books, and even the theme of bands. Vampires in literature are important to study because they have become the conduit in which juveniles place their identities. Not saying that in reading one of these novels, a reader will suddenly come out and announce they are a vampire, but they may come out and have a stronger sense of self. There could be things in the book that help reassure the reader that the thoughts and feelings they have are valid. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>BIBLIOGRAPHY<br/>
De Bruin- Mole, Megen J. “The Horror of Dracula: Twilight and the 21st- Century Vampire.” 30 Jun 2010. www.academia.edu/616708/The_Horror_of_Dracula_Twilight_and_the_21st-Century_Vampire.<br/>
De Marco, Joseph. “Vampire Literature: Something Young Adults Can Really Sink Their Teeth Into.”  Emergency Librarian, vol. 24, no. 5, May/Jun 1997, pp 26. EBSCOhost, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.steenproxy.sfasu.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&amp;sid=d85e1eb3-6c28-44ce-ac60-10515e39047f%40pdc-v-sessmgr06&amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=9707034206&amp;db=tfh.<br/>
Guðmundsdóttir, Berglind. “The Vampire Evolution in Literature: The Influence of Bram Stoker’s Dracula Has Had in the Works of Writers of Modern Young Adult Vampire Fiction”. May 2015, skemman.is/bitstream/1946/20944/1/Berglind_Gudmundsdottir_BA_Thesis_The_Vampire's_Evolution_in_Literature.pdf.<br/>
Kaplan, Jeffery S. “Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century: Moving Beyond Traditional Constraints and Conventions.” ALAN Review, vol. 32, no. 2, 1 Jan 2005, pp 11-18. doi.org/10.2106/alan.v32i2.a.3.<br/>
Krul, Rosalind. “Young Adult Appeal and the Thematic Similarity in Urban Fantasy.” New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, vol. 22, no. 2, 2016, pp 142-158. doi.org/10.1080/13614541.2016.1223931.<br/>
Howard, Vivian. “The Importance of Pleasure Reading in the Lives of Young Teens: Self- Identification, Self- Construction, and Self- Awareness.” Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 46-55. DOI: 10.1177/0961000610390992.<br/>
Mayfield, Sarah, et al. “Romancing the Bite: Statistical Analysis of Young Adult Vampire Novels.”  Incite Journal of Undergraduate Scholarships, vol. 4, 2020, blogs.longwood.edu/incite/2012/01/30/romancing-the-bite-statistical-analysis-of-young-adult-vampire-novels/.<br/>
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. Simon &amp; Schuster Inc, 1997.</p>
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